The
Philippines ( ) officially known as the
Republic of the Philippines, is a country in
Southeast Asia in the western Pacific
Ocean
. To its north across the Luzon Strait
lies Taiwan
.
To its
west across the South China
Sea
is Vietnam
.
The
Sulu
Sea
to the southwest separates it from the island of
Borneo
and to the south the Celebes Sea
from other islands of Indonesia
. It is bounded on the east by the Philippine Sea
. An
archipelago
comprising 7,107 islands, the Philippines has the 5th
longest coastline
in the world.
The islands are categorized broadly into
three main geographical divisions: Luzon
, Visayas
, and
Mindanao
. The capital city is Manila
.
With an estimated population of about 92,000,000 people, the
Philippines is
the
world's 12th most populous country. It is estimated that there
are about 11,000,000
overseas
Filipinos worldwide, equivalent to about 11% of the total
population of the Philippines. Multiple
ethnicities and cultures
are found throughout the islands.
Ecologically, the Philippines with its tropical
climate is one of the most diverse countries in the world.
Its national economy is the
47th largest in the
world, with an estimated 2008
gross domestic product (GDP nominal)
of over
US$ 166.9 billion
(nominal). Primary
exports include
semiconductors and electronic products,
transport equipment,
garments,
copper products,
petroleum
products,
coconut oil, and
fruits.
Major trading partners include China
, Japan
, the
United
States
, Singapore
, Hong
Kong
, Saudi
Arabia
, South
Korea
, Thailand
, and Malaysia
. Its unit of
currency is the
Philippine peso (PHP).
In ancient times the archipelago was populated by successive waves
of
Austronesian peoples who
brought with them influences from
Malay,
Hindu, and
Islamic cultures. Trade introduced
Chinese cultural influences.
The arrival of
Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 marked
the beginning of an era of Spanish
interest and
eventually dominance. The Philippines became the Asian hub
of the
Manila-Acapulco galleon
treasure fleet.
Christianity became widespread and there was a
brief
British
occupation. As the 19th century gave way to the 20th, there
followed in quick succession the short-lived
Philippine Revolution, the
Spanish-American War, and the
Philippine-American War.
In the
aftermath, the United
States
replaced Spain
as the
dominant power. Aside from the period of
Japanese occupation,
the United States retained sovereignty over the islands until the
end of
World War II when the
Philippines gained
independence. The United States
bequeathed to the Philippines the
English language and its democratic
presidential system of
government. Since independence the Philippines has had an often
tumultuous experience with
democracy, with
popular "
People Power" movements
overthrowing a
dictatorship in one instance
but also underlining the institutional weaknesses of its
constitutional republic in
others.
Etymology
The name
Philippines was derived from King
Philip II of Spain in the 16th century.
Spanish
explorer Ruy López de
Villalobos used the name Las Islas Filipinas, in honor
of the Prince of Asturias
(Spain) during his expedition to the islands,
originally referring to the islands of Leyte
and Samar
.
Despite the presence of other names, the name
Filipinas
was chosen as the name of the archipelago.
The official name of the Philippines changed throughout the course
of its history. During the
Philippine Revolution, it was
officially called
República Filipina or the
Philippine Republic. From the
period of the
Spanish-American
War and the
Philippine-American War, until the
Commonwealth period,
American colonial authorities referred to the country as the
Philippine Islands, a translation of the original Spanish
name. It was during the American period that the name
Philippines began to appear, a name that has become its
common name. The official name of the country is now
Republic
of the Philippines.
History
Archeological discoveries show that
humans
existed in the Philippines around 40,000 years ago. The Negritos, a
pre-
Mongoloid ethnic group that
migrated from mainland
Asia, settled in the
islands about 30,000 years ago. Another ethnic group of
Malayo-Polynesian speaking people originated from the populations
of
Taiwanese aborigines and
settled in the Philippines approximately 6,000 years ago.
They
would populate the regions now known as Malaysia
, Indonesia
, the Pacific
Islands, and Madagascar
.
These early settlers traded with other Asian countries during the
prehistoric period. Before the arrival of
Islam,
animism syncretized with
Hinduism, and
Buddhism were the religions worshiped by various
Philippine indigenous kingdoms. There was no unifying political
state encompassing the entire Philippine Archipelago. Instead, the
islands were divided among competing
thalassocracies ruled by various
datus,
rajahs, and
sultans.
Among these were the Kingdom of Maynila, Namayan, the
Dynasty of Tondo, the Madya-as
Confederacy, Butuan, Cebu
, Maguindanao, and Sulu. Some of these societies were part of the
Malayan empires of Srivijaya, Majapahit, and Brunei
.
Islam was brought to the Philippines by traders, and
proselytizers from Malaysia, and Indonesia.
By the
13th century, Islam were established in the Sulu
Archipelago
, and reached Mindanao
, the Visayas
, and Luzon
by
1565.
In 1521,
Portuguese
explorer Ferdinand
Magellan arrived in the Philippines, and claimed the islands
for Spain. Colonization began when Spanish explorer
Miguel López de
Legazpi, arrived from Mexico
in 1565, and
formed the first European settlements in Cebu. In 1571, they
established Manila as the capital of the
Spanish East Indies..
Spanish rule brought political unification to the archipelago that
later became the Philippines, and introduced elements of
western civilization such as the
code of law,
printing and the
calendar.
The
Philippines was governed as a territory of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1565
to 1821, before it was administered directly from Madrid
after the
Mexican
revolution. The Manila
galleons which linked Manila to Acapulco
traveled once or twice a year between the 16th and
19th century. The Spanish military fought off various
indigenous revolts
and several external colonial challenges from the British, Chinese
pirates, Dutch, and Portuguese.
Roman
Catholic missionaries converted most of the inhabitants to
Christianity and founded schools,
universities, and hospitals. In 1863 a Spanish decree introduced
education, establishing free public schooling in
Spanish.Between the 1700s and 1800s, the
Philippines opened its ports to world trade. Many
criollos and
mestizos became wealthy. The influx of Spanish
settlers secularized churches, and government positions
traditionally held by the
criollos. The ideals of
revolution also began to spread through the islands.
Criollo insurgency resulted in the
Novales
Mutiny, and the
revolt in Cavite El
Viejo in 1872 that was a precursor to the
Philippine Revolution.
An ideology of a revolution grew after colonial authorities
executed the three priests,
Mariano
Gómez,
José Burgos and
Jacinto Zamora (collectively known as
Gomburza), who were accused of
sedition, in 1872. This would inspire a
propaganda movement in Spain, organized
by
José Rizal,
Marcelo H. del Pilar and
Mariano Ponce, lobbying for political reforms
in the Philippines. Rizal was eventually executed on December 30,
1896, on charges of rebellion. As attempts at reform were meeting
with resistance,
Andrés
Bonifacio in 1892 established the secret society called the
Katipunan, a society along the lines of
the
freemasons, which sought independence
from Spain through armed revolt. Bonifacio and the Katipunan
started the
Philippine
Revolution in 1896.
A faction of the Katipunan, the Magdalo of Cavite
province,
eventually came to challenge Bonifacio's position as the leader of
the revolution and Emilio Aguinaldo
took over. In 1898, the Spanish-American War began in Cuba
and reached
the Philippines. Aguinaldo
declared Philippine
independence from Spain in Kawit, Cavite on June 12, 1898, and
the
First Philippine
Republic was established the following year.
Meanwhile, the
islands were ceded by Spain, together with Cuba
, Puerto Rico, and Guam
, to the
United States for $20 million dollars, in the Treaty of Paris. This lead to
the
Philippine-American War
after the First Philippine Republic was not recognized by the
United States and eventually resulted in American control over the
islands.
In 1935, the Philippines was granted Commonwealth status.
Plans for
independence over the next decade were interrupted by World War II when Japan
invaded. Allied troops defeated the Japanese in 1944. On
July 4, 1946, the Philippines attained its independence.
Immediately after
World War II, the
Philippines faced a number of challenges. The country had to be
rebuilt from the ravages of war. It also had to come to terms with
Japanese collaborators. Meanwhile, disgruntled remnants of the
Hukbalahap communist rebel army that had
previously fought against and resisted the Japanese continued to
roam the rural
regions.
Eventually this threat was dealt with by Secretary of National
Defense and later President
Ramon
Magsaysay but sporadic cases of communist insurgency continued
to flare up long afterward.
In 1965,
Ferdinand Marcos was
elected president. Barred from seeking a third term, he declared
martial law on September 21, 1972. By
using political divisions, the tension of the
Cold War, and the specter of communist rebellion
and Islamic insurgency as justifications; he governed by
decree, along with his wife
Imelda Marcos. On August 21, 1983, Marcos'
chief rival opposition leader
Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. ignored
warnings and returned from exile in the United States.
He was assassinated
as he was taken off the plane at the Manila International Airport
(now called the Ninoy Aquino International
Airport
in his memory). With political pressure
building Marcos eventually called for
snap presidential
elections in 1986.
Corazon
Aquino, Benigno's widow, was convinced into becoming the
presidential candidate and standard bearer of the opposition. The
elections were widely thought of as rigged when Marcos was
proclaimed the winner. This led to the
People Power Revolution instigated
when long time Marcos allies Armed Forces of the Philippines Vice
Chief-of-Staff
Fidel V. Ramos and Secretary of National Defense
Juan Ponce Enrile resigned and
withdrew their support and barricaded themselves in
Camp Aguinaldo and
Camp
Crame. Exhorted on by the
Archbishop of Manila Jaime Cardinal Sin, people gathered in
support of the rebel leaders and protested on
EDSA. In the face of mass protests and military
defections, Marcos and his allies fled to Hawaii and into exile.
Corazon Aquino was recognized as president.
The return of democracy and government reforms after the events of
1986 were hampered by national debt, government corruption, coup
attempts, a persistent
communist
insurgency and
Islamic separatists. The
economy improved during the administration of Fidel V. Ramos, who
was elected in 1992. However, the economic improvements were
negated with the onset of the
East Asian financial crisis in
1997. In 2001, amid charges of corruption and a stalled impeachment
process, Ramos' successor
Joseph Ejercito
Estrada was ousted from the presidency by the
2001 EDSA Revolution and replaced by
Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo.
Politics and government
The Philippines has a
presidential,
unitary form of government (with some
modification, there is
one autonomous region largely free from the
national government), where the
President functions as both
head of state and
head of government and is
commander-in-chief of the
armed forces. The president
is elected by popular vote to a single six-year term, during which
time she or he appoints and presides over the
cabinet.
The
bicameral Congress is composed of a
Senate, serving as the
upper house, with members elected to a
six-year term, and a
House of
Representatives, serving as the
lower
house, with members elected to a three-year term. They are
elected from both
legislative
districts and through sectoral representation.
The
judicial power is vested in the
Supreme Court,
composed of a
Chief
Justice as its presiding officer and fourteen
associate
justices, all appointed by the Philippine President from
nominations submitted by the
Judicial and Bar Council.
There have been attempts to change the government to a
federal,
unicameral or
parliamentary government beginning
in the term of
Ramos up to the
present administration.
Security and defense
.jpg/180px-BRP_Rajah_Humabon_(PF_11).jpg)
175
Philippine defense is handled by the
Armed Forces of the
Philippines, which is modeled after the
United States armed forces and is
composed of three branches: the
Air
Force, the
Army, and the
Navy (including the
Marine Corps). Civilian security is
handled by
Philippine
National Police under the
DILG.
In metropolitan areas, groups like the
MMDA are in charge
local issues, such as traffic.
In the
Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao, the largest separatist
organizations, the
Moro
National Liberation Front and the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front,
are actively engaging the government, seeking more rights and
better autonomy for their people. Militant organizations, such as
the
New People's Army and the
Abu Sayyaf Group, have been roaming the
provinces, however
their presence has decreased in recent years due to successful
security provided by the Philippine government.
The Philippines has been an
ally of the United States since World
War II.United Nations Security Council: Official Records: First
Year, First Series, First Meeting
It has supported American policies during
the Cold War, and has participated in the
Korean and Vietnam wars as a result of the country's
involvement with SEATO, a group that
includes Australia, France, New Zealand
, Pakistan
, Thailand
, the United Kingdom
and the United States. After the start of
the
War on Terror, there has been
additional support from the United States military. The country is
currently working with the United States, through a
visiting forces agreement,
with the intention of ending the
insurgency in the country. The
Philippines also has a
military
agreement with Australia.
Other important military allies include
Brunei
, Indonesia
, Japan
, Malaysia
, Singapore
, South
Korea
, Taiwan
, Thailand
, the United Kingdom
and Vietnam
.
International relations
The Philippines' international relations is focused on its ideals
of democracy, peace and trade with other nations, as well as the
well-being of the 11 million
Overseas
Filipinos living outside the country.
It has aligned itself
with several nations around the world including its Southeast Asian and Asia-Pacific neighbors, the United States, the
Middle East, the Vatican
and other countries.
As a founding and active member of the
United Nations, the Philippines has been
elected several times into the
Security Council.
Carlos P. Romulo was a former President of the
United Nations General
Assembly. The country is also an active participant in the
Human Rights Council as well as
in
peacekeeping missions, particularly
in
East
Timor. Aside from the United Nations, the country is also a
founding and active member of
ASEAN
(Association of Southeast Asian Nations) with the intention of
strengthening relations with its Southeast Asian neighbors and
promoting economic and cultural growth between member states. It
has hosted several
summits and is an
active contributor to the direction and policies of the bloc.
The
current relations it enjoys with other Southeast Asian states is in
contrast with its relations with them before the 1970s when it was
at war with Vietnam
and was
heavily disputing Sabah with Malaysia
, although misunderstandings between these states
continue to exist due to the Spratly Islands
.
The
Philippines values its relations with the United States
, and has actively supported most of the other's
policies with regards to foreign affairs As a Major non-NATO ally, the country
supported the United States during the Cold
War and the War on Terror.
It has also committed itself to promote the American ideals of
democracy.
Despite this history of goodwill,
controversy continues to exist between the relations of the two
nations, with varying issues such as the Philippine-American War, the
Bell Trade Act, the presence of
U.S. military bases in
Subic
Bay
and Clark
, and the
Visiting Forces
Agreement. Japan is also treated as an ally due to the
Official Development
Assistance given to the people, although historical tensions
exist due to the plight of
comfort
women.
Relations with Spain,
Europe and
Latin America remained positive due to shared
interests.
Despite the threat of violence (such as
domestic abuse and war) on Overseas
Filipino Workers, particularly on domestic workers, relations with Middle Eastern countries (including Egypt
, Iran
, Iraq
, Libya
, Saudi Arabia
, and the United Arab Emirates
) continue to be friendly as proven by the
continuous employment of more than two million Overseas Filipinos
living there. Recent foreign policy has been mostly about
economic relations with its Southeast Asian and Asia-Pacific
neighbors.
The
Philippines is a member of the East
Asia Summit (EAS), the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC), the Latin Union
, the Group of 24 and the
Non-Aligned Movement. It
is also seeking to strengthen relations with Islamic countries by
campaigning for observer status in the
Organization of Islamic
Conference.
Administrative divisions

Provinces and regions of the
Philippines.
The
Philippines is divided into three island groups: Luzon
, Visayas
and Mindanao
. These are divided into 17
regions, 80
provinces, 120
cities, 1,511
municipalities and 42,008
barangays. In addition, the Section 2 of
Republic Act No.
5446 asserts that the country has acquired
islands from Sabah
formerly
(North Borneo).
Geography
The Philippines constitutes an
archipelago of 7,107 islands with a total land
area of approximately 300,000 square kilometres
(116,000
square miles).
It is
located between 116° 40', and 126° 34' E. longitude and 4° 40' and
21° 10' N. latitude and borders the Philippine Sea
on the east, the South China Sea
on the west, and the Celebes Sea
on the south. The island of
Borneo
is located a few hundred kilometres southwest and
Taiwan
is located directly to the north.
The
Moluccas
and Sulawesi
are located to the south-southwest and Palau
is
located to the east of the islands.
Most of the mountainous islands were covered in
tropical rainforest and are volcanic in
origin.
The highest mountain is Mount Apo
, located in Mindanao measuring at 2,954 metres
(9,692 ft) above sea level. There are many active
volcanos such as the Mayon Volcano
, Mount
Pinatubo
and
Taal
Volcano
. The islands are also located within the
typhoon belt of the Western Pacific, and
approximately 19 typhoons strike per year.
Located on the northwestern fringes of the
Pacific Ring of Fire, the Philippines
have experienced frequent seismic and volcanic activities. Around
20
earthquakes are registered daily,
though most are too weak to be felt. The last major earthquake was
the
1990 Luzon
earthquake.
The longest river is the
Cagayan River
in northern Luzon.
Manila
Bay
is connected to Laguna de Bay
by means of the Pasig
River. Subic
Bay
, the Davao
Gulf
and the Moro Gulf are some
of the important bays. Traversing the San Juanico Strait
is the San Juanico Bridge
that connects the islands of Samar, and
Leyte.
Natural resources
The Philippines has abundant natural resources in areas such as
agriculture, natural beauty and minerals. It has fertile lands,
diverse flora and fauna, extensive coastlines and rich mineral
deposits.
Endemic species include the
tamaraw of Mindoro and the
tarsier of Bohol. The Philippines lacks predators,
with the exception of
snakes, such as
python and
cobras,
and
birds of prey, such as the
national bird, known as the
Philippine eagle. Other native animals
include the palm
civet cat, the
Mouse deer, the
Visayan warty pig, and several species of
bats.
Rainforests boast an array of flora,
including several types of
orchids and
rafflesia. The
narra
is considered as the most important type of
hardwood while
banyan
trees or the
balete. The islands' major crops include
rice, corn, sugarcane, coconut, abaca, and tobacco.
Rice is the most important source of food along with
corn. The
coconut,
mango,
watermelon
and other native fruits are important contributors to the nation's
income.
Due to the
volcanic nature of the islands,
mineral deposits are abundant. This also allows the Philippines to
become a
powerhouse with regards to
geothermal energy.
A notable example of
the volcanic features of the islands include the Benham
Plateau
to the east, a region active in tectonic subduction.
The Philippine territorial waters encompass as much as 1.67 million
square kilometres, producing a unique and diverse marine life, an
important part of the
Coral Triangle.
There are 2,400 fish species. Other marine products include corals,
pearls, crabs and seaweeds. The rain forests offer prime habitat
for more than 530 species of birds, some 800 species of orchids,
and some 8,500 species of flowering plants.
Deforestation is acute in
Southeast Asia, the second of the world's
great biodiversity hot spots. The forest cover of the Philippines
declined from 70% of the country's total land area in 1900 to about
18.3% in 1999.
Climate
The Philippines has a tropical
climate and
is usually hot and humid. The average yearly temperature is around
26.5°
C (79.7°
F).
There are three recognized seasons:
"Tag-init" or
"Tag-araw" (the hot season or summer from March to May),
"Tag-ulan" (the rainy season from June to November), and
"Tag-lamig" (the cold season from December to February).
The southwest
monsoon (from May to October)
is known as the
"Habagat" and the dry winds of the
northeast monsoon (from November to April) as the
"Amihan". The coolest month is January, and the warmest is
May. Both temperature and humidity levels reach the maximum in
April and May. Manila and most of the lowland areas are hot and
dusty from March to May. Even at this period, the temperatures
rarely rise above 37°C and sea-level temperatures rarely fall below
27°C. Annual rainfall measures as much as 5,000 millimeters in the
mountainous east coast section but less than 1,000 millimetres in
some of the sheltered valleys. Sitting astride the
typhoon belt, most of the
islands experience annual torrential rains and thunderstorms from
July to October.
Economy
The Philippines is a
newly
industrialized country, with an economy anchored on
agriculture but with substantial contributions
from
manufacturing,
mining,
remittances from
overseas Filipinos and
service industries such
as
tourism, and
business process outsourcing.
Goldman Sachs includes the country in
its list of the "
Next Eleven"
economies.
In the 1960s, the country was regarded as the second wealthiest in
Asia, next to Japan.However, the leadership of Ferdinand Marcos
proved disastrous, by transforming the
market economy into a
centrally planned economy. The
country suffered from slow economic growth and bouts of economic
recession. Only in the 1990s with a
program of economic liberalization did the economy begin to
recover.
The
Asian Financial
Crisis affected the economy to an extent, resulting in a
lingering decline of the value of the
peso and falls in the stock market, although
the extent to which it was affected was not as severe as that of
its Asian neighbors.
This is largely due to the fiscal
conservatism of the government partly as a result of decades of
monitoring and fiscal supervision from the International Monetary Fund
, in comparison to the massive spending of its
neighbors on the rapid acceleration of economic growth. By
2004, the economy experienced six percent growth in
gross domestic product and 7.3% in
2007.
The Philippine economy is heavily reliant on remittances as a
source of foreign currency, surpassing foreign direct investment.
China
and India
have
emerged as major economic competitors, siphoning away investors who
would otherwise have invested their businesses, particularly
telecommunication companies. Regional development is also
somewhat uneven, with Luzon, and Metro Manila in particular gaining
most of the new economic growth at the expense of the other
regions, although the government has taken steps to distribute
economic growth by promoting investment in other areas of the
country.
The Philippines is a founding member of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
It is also a member of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), the Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the
Colombo Plan and the G-77 and other International
organization. The daily income for 45% of the population of
the Philippines is less than US$ 2.
Demographics

Population growth of the
Philippines.
The first
official census in the
Philippines was carried out in 1878. As of December 31, 1877, the
country's population was recorded at 5,567,685 persons. By 2009,
the Philippines has become the world's 12th most populous nation,
with a population of over 92 million. An estimated figure of half
of the population resides on the island of Luzon.
Manila
, the capital
city, is the eleventh most populous metropolitan area in the
world. The population of the
Greater Manila Area is around 20
million. Life expectancy is 71.09 years, with 74.15 years for
females and 68.17 years for males. Population growth rate between
1995 to 2000 was 3.21% but has decreased to an estimated 1.95% for
the 2005 to 2010 period.
There are about 11 million Filipinos outside the Philippines.
Since the
liberalization of United States immigration laws in 1965, the
number of people in the United States
having Filipino
ancestry had grown substantially to 3.1 million according to the
2007 estimates by the United States Census Bureau. According
to the US Census Bureau, immigrants from the Philippines made up
the second largest group after Mexico.
Some 2 million
Filipinos work in the Middle East, with
nearly a million in Saudi
Arabia
alone.
Ethnicity
Filipinos belong to several
Asian
ethnic groups, grouped within the
Malay
or
Malayo-Polynesian
speaking people, who speak
Austronesian languages. They
originated from a population of
Taiwanese aborigines, that migrated to
the Philippines thousands of years ago from Taiwan, and brought
with them knowledge of agriculture and ocean-sailing technology.
Various people of different races and nationalities have
intermarried with various indigenous ethnic groups. Their
descendants are known as
mestizos.
The official population of all types of mixed blood individuals
living in the country remain unknown.
The islands are composed of a multitude of different ethnic groups
and cultures. These include non-tribal peoples such as the
Visayan, the
Tagalog,
comprising about one-fifth of the country’s total population, the
Ilocano, the
Moro, the
Kapampangan, the
Bicolano, the
Pangasinense, the
Ibanag and the
Ivatan.
Indigenous peoples are
also present including the
Igorot, the
Lumad, the
Mangyan, the
Badjao, and the
tribes of Palawan.
Negritos, such as the
Aeta and
the
Ati, are considered the
aboriginal inhabitants of the islands and are estimated to number
around 300,000 people (0.3%). Migrant ethnic groups who have
settled in the country from elsewhere include
Chinese,
Spanish,
Americans,
Arabs,
British,
Europeans,
Indonesians,
Japanese,
Koreans, and
South Asian.
Chinese Filipinos number about 2
million.
Cities
The figure below shows the top twenty largest cities in the
Philippines.
Language
Native Languages
(2000) |
Tagalog |
22 million |
Cebuano |
20 million |
Ilokano |
7.7 million |
Hiligaynon |
7 million |
Waray-Waray |
3.1 million |
Kapampangan |
2.9 million |
Bicol Central |
2.5 million |
Chavacano creoles |
2.5 million |
Pangasinan |
2.4 million |
Bicol Albay |
1.2 million |
Maranao |
1.2 million |
Maguindanao |
1.1 million |
Kinaray-A |
1.1 million |
Tausug |
1 million |
Surigaonon |
0.6 million |
Masbateño |
0.5 million |
Aklanon |
0.5 million |
Ibanag |
0.3 million |
Over 180 native languages and dialects are spoken in the
Philippines. They are part of the
Borneo-Philippines group of the
Malayo-Polynesian
languages, which is itself a branch of the
Austronesian language family.
According to the
1987
Philippine Constitution,
Filipino and
English are the official languages.
Filipino is a
de facto version of
Tagalog, spoken mainly in Metro Manila and
other urban regions. Both Tagalog and English are used in
government, education, print, broadcast media and business. Major
languages recognized in the constitution include
Bicolano,
Cebuano,
Ilocano,
Hiligaynon or Ilonggo,
Kapampangan,
Pangasinan, Tagalog and
Waray-Waray.
Spanish and
Arabic are recognized as voluntary and
optional languages.
Other
languages such as Aklanon, Boholano, Chavacano, Zamboangueño, Cuyonon, Ifugao, Itbayat
, Ivatan, Kalinga, Kamayo, Kankana-ey, Kinaray-a, Maguindanao, Maranao, Masbatenyo, Romblomanon, Surigaonon, Tausug, Yakan and
several Visayan languages are
dominant in their respective provinces.
Religion
The
Philippines is one of two predominantly Roman Catholic countries in Asia, the
other being East
Timor
. It is composed of several
diocese and
archdiocese.
More than 90% of the population are Christians. About 80% belong to
the Roman Catholic Church while the remaining 10% belong to other
Christian denominations,
such as the
Philippine
Independent Church,
Iglesia ni
Cristo,
The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
Seventh-day Adventist Church,
United Church of Christ and
the
Orthodox
Church.
Several
Baroque churches are included in the list of
UNESCO World Heritage
Sites, including the San
Agustín Church in Manila, the Paoay Church in Ilocos Norte, the
Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (Santa María) Church in Ilocos Sur,
the Santo Tomás de Villanueva Church in Iloilo and the Basilica
Minore del Santo Niño
in Cebu.
Between 5% to 10% of the population are
Muslim, most of whom live in parts of Mindanao,
Palawan and the Sulu Archipelago, an area known as
Bangsamoro or the
Moro region. Some have migrated into
urban and rural areas in different parts of the country. Most
Muslim Filipinos practice
Shafi'i, a form of
Sunni Islam, while other
tribal groups such as the
Bajau, practice a
form mixed with
Animism.
Philippine traditional
religions are still practiced by many aboriginal and tribal
groups, often
syncretized with
Christianity and Islam.
Animism,
Folk religion and
Shamanism remain present as undercurrents of
mainstream religion, through the
albularyo, the
babaylan
and the
manghihilot. Meanwhile,
Buddhism,
Taoism and
Chinese
folk religion, are dominant in Chinese communities.
Those belonging to the
Bahá'í
Faith,
Hinduism,
Judaism, or
those with other spiritual beliefs, and
those
with no religion form the remaining minority.
Education
Education in the Philippines is mostly
Westernized, based on the American education
system. Philippine DepEd reports a functional literacy rate of
84.1% for 2003. Other agencies are much more optimistic. Literacy
is about equal for males and females. Spending for education
composes 2.5% of the GDP. There were 42,152 elementary schools and
8,455 high schools registered with DepEd for school year 2006–2007.
Classes start in June and end in March. The majority of colleges
and universities follow a semester calendar from June to October
and November to March. There are a number of foreign schools with
study programs. The general pattern of formal education follows six
stages:
- Preschool
- Elementary school
- High school
- Post-secondary education
- Graduate education
- Adult education
The
Department of
Education (DepEd), formerly (DECS), covers elementary,
secondary, and non-formal education, the
Technical
Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) administers
the post-secondary, middle-level education training and
development, while the
Commission on
Higher Education (CHED) supervises the college as well as
graduate academic programs and degrees as well as regulate
standards in higher education.
Infrastructure
Transportation
In spite of the mountainous terrain, approximately 14 percent of
the 158,810 kilometres (98,110 miles) of roads in the Philippines
are paved. Buses, jeepneys, taxis, tricycles and motorcycles are
available when getting around the major cities and towns. In 2007,
there are about 5.53 million registered motor vehicles and an
average annual registration rate of 4.55%.
Train service is provided by the
Strong Republic Transit
System, which unified the three main railway networks that
provide service of different areas of Metro Manila, and parts of
Luzon, that includes the
Manila Light Rail Transit
System (LRT), the
Manila Metro Rail Transit
System (MRT) and the
Philippine National Railways
(PNR).
Seaports can be found throughout the islands. The busiest seaports
are Manila, Cebu, Iloilo, Davao, Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga,
which are parts of the 3,219 kilometre of waterways and seaports.
Passenger ships and other sea vessels such as
Superferry,
Negros
Navigation and
Sulpicio Lines
serves Manila, with links to various cities and towns. In 2003, the
919-kilometres
Strong
Republic Nautical Highway (SRNH) was established and this is an
integrated set of highway segments and ferry routes covering 17
cities.
Rivers, such as the
Pasig River and
Marikina River, have air-conditioned
commuter ferries run by the
Pasig River Ferry Service,
connecting their numerous tributaries in Manila, Makati City,
Mandaluyong City, Pasig City and Marikina City.
There are 262 airports in the country, 75 of which have runways.
The
Ninoy Aquino International
Airport
(NAIA) is the main airport. Other important
airports include the Diosdado Macapagal International
Airport
, Mactan-Cebu International
Airport
and Francisco Bangoy International
Airport
. Philippine
Airlines, Asia's oldest commercial airline still operating
under its original name and
Cebu
Pacific, the leading domestic airline, are the major airlines
serving most domestic and international destinations.
Communications
The Philippines has one of the most sophisticated cellular phone
industries in the world and one of the highest concentrations of
users. Telecommunications are dominated by the
Philippine Long
Distance Telephone Company, which is also the largest company
in the country.
Globe Telecom,
Smart Communications and
Sun Cellular on the other hand, are
three of its largest cellular service providers.
There are an estimated 41,000,000 cellular phone users, the reason
that the Philippines has been named as the
"Texting Capital of
the World", and the ownership rate is increasing.
Text messaging has fostered a culture of
quick greetings, and forwarded jokes among the Filipinos. Out of
this growing number of avid texters, 5,500,000 of them use their
cellular phones as virtual wallets, making it a leader among
developing nations in providing financial transactions over
cellular networks. In 2007, The nation sent an average of 1 billion
SMS messages per day.
There are approximately 381 AM and 628 FM radio stations and 250
national and 1,501 cable television stations.
Internet penetration in the
Philippines has reached around 24.5% of the population representing
about 24 million people or 2.9% of all internet users in Asia.
Social
networking and
MMORPGs, are among the
most frequent internet activities.
Culture and society
Philippine culture is a combination of
Eastern and
Western cultures. The Philippines shares
many aspects with other
Asian countries, with
traditional
Malay culture being its
prime heritage, yet it also displays significant amount of
Spanish, and
American influences. These
Hispanic influences are evident in
literature,
folk music,
folk dance,
language,
food,
art, and
religion.
Traditional festivities known as
barrio fiestas (district
festivals) to commemorate the feast days of patron saints are
common. The
Moriones Festival and
Sinulog Festival are a couple of
the most well-known. These community celebrations are times for
feasting, music, and dancing. Some traditions, however, are
changing or gradually being forgotten due to modernization. The
Bayanihan
Philippine National Folk Dance Company has been lauded for
preserving many of the various traditional folk dances found
throughout the Philippines. They are famed for their iconic
performances of Philippine dances such as the
tinikling and
singkil that both feature the use of clashing
bamboo poles.
One of the most visible Hispanic legacies is the prevalence of
Spanish
surnames and names among Filipinos. This peculiarity, unique
among the people of Asia, came as a result of a colonial decree,
the Clavería edict, for the systematic distribution of family names
and implementation of the
Spanish
naming system on the population. A Spanish name and surname
among the majority of Filipinos does not always denote Spanish
ancestry. The majority of street names, towns and provinces are in
Spanish.
Spanish architecture
made somewhat of an imprint in the Philippines, but many buildings
bearing that influence were demolished during World War II. The
remaining influences can be seen in the country's churches,
government buildings, and universities.
Many Hispanic-styled
houses and buildings are preserved, like the towns in Vigan
among
others.
The use of the English language in the Philippines is the United
States' most visible legacy. It has contributed to the influence of
American pop cultural trends. This is
seen in Filipinos' love of
fast food,
film and
music. Fast food
outlets are found on many street corners. American global fast food
chain stalwarts have entered the market like
McDonald's, those of
Yum! Brands,
Starbucks, and
Burger
King among others. However, local fast food chains have
emerged, and successfully compete against their foreign rivals
including
Goldilocks and most
notably
Jollibee the leading fast food
chain in the country. Modern day Filipinos also listen and watch
contemporary European and American music and film. However,
Original Pilipino Music
(also known as OPM) and
local
films are also appreciated.
Cuisine
Filipino cuisine has evolved over several centuries from its
Malayo-Polynesian origins to
become a mixed cuisine with many
Hispanic,
Chinese,
American, and other
Asian influences. These influences have been
adapted to local ingredients and the Filipino palate to create
distinctively Filipino dishes.
Dishes range from the very simple, like a meal of fried salted fish
and rice, to the highly elaborate, such as the
paellas and
cocidos created for fiestas. Popular dishes
include
lechón,
adobo,
sinigang,
kare-kare,
tapa, crispy
pata,
pancit,
lumpia, and
halo-halo.
Unlike many of their Asian counterparts, Filipinos do not eat with
chopsticks. They use western cutlery. However, possibly due to rice
being the primary staple food and the popularity of a large number
of stews or broth based main dishes in Filipino cuisine, the main
pairing of utensils seen at the Filipino dining table is that of
spoon and fork, not knife and fork. The traditional way of eating
with the hands known as
kamayan is seen more often in less
urbanized areas.
Mythology and literature
Philippine mythology has been handed down through Philippine folk
literature, which is the traditional oral literature of the
Filipino people. This refers to a wide range of material due to the
ethnic mix of the Philippines. Each unique ethnic group has its own
stories and myths to tell. Nonetheless, Hindu and Spanish influence
can be detected in many cases. Many of the myths are creation
stories or stories about supernatural creatures, such as the
Aswang (Vampire), the
Diwata (Fairy), and Nature. The most recognized
Philippine mythologies include the
Ibong Adarna,
Bernardo Carpio,
Lam-Ang and
Urduja.
In Philippine literature,
Francisco
Balagtas the writer of
Florante at Laura is recognized as
one of the Philippines' preeminent writers.
José Rizal wrote
Noli Me Tangere (
Touch Me
Not), and
El
Filibusterismo (
The Reign of Greed) in which he
depicted the abuses of Spanish rule in his work and is considered a
national hero for inspiring other Philippine revolutionaries to
seek independence.
Fernando
María Guerrero is a noted poet. In more recent times, works
such as
Dekada '70 and
Bayan Ko (
My Country),
have received national recognition for illustrating the martial law
period of the 1970s and the pre-colonial period. Contemporary
literature has mostly been focused on humor and everyday life, such
as the works of
Bob Ong.
Media
Philippine media uses
mainly Filipino (a de facto version of Tagalog) and English. Other
Philippine languages, including various Visayan languages are also
used in the media.
Radio is currently the most
accessible type of media due to the remoteness of certain rural
locations and most local languages are broadcasted in this
format.
The entertainment industry is vibrant with scandals and issues
among
celebrities, which are
written in most
broadsheets and tabloids.
Drama and
fantasy shows are anticipated in major
television networks such as
ABS-CBN,
GMA
Network and
TV5,
so are Latin
telenovelas,
Asianovelas and
anime.
Daytime television is dominated by game shows, variety shows, and
talk shows such as
Eat Bulaga,
Game KNB? and
Wowowee.
Philippine cinema is also
appreciated, but has faced competition from
American and
European films. Despite this, critically
praised directors and actors remain active, including
Mike de Leon,
Lino
Brocka,
Judy Ann Santos,
Vilma Santos and
Nora Aunor (known for her role in
Himala, the most critically acclaimed film in
the nation).
Sports and recreation
Various
sports are played
in the Philippines including
basketball,
boxing,
volleyball,
badminton,
billiards,
football ,
ten-pin bowling and
sipa.
Basketball is played at both amateur and professional levels and is
considered to be the most popular
sport in the
Philippines. In almost every corner of the cities, there is a
basketball court as it is the favorite recreational activity by
Filipinos.
Basketball, boxing, billiards, soccer, horse racing, chess and
ten-pin bowling are the most watched sports. Philippine sports have
produced several sports heroes, such as
Francisco Guilledo,
Flash Elorde, and
Manny Pacquiao in boxing,
Paulino Alcántara in football
(soccer),
Carlos Loyzaga,
Robert Jaworski and
Ramon Fernandez in basketball,
Efren Reyes in billiards,
Eugene Torre in chess, and
Rafael Nepomuceno in bowling.
Motocross,
figure
skating,
cycling and
mountaineering have become popular.
Traditional
Filipino sports are popular, among the youth, primarily as
children's games, such as
luksung baka,
patintero,
piko, and
tumbang preso.
Sungka,
while not as popular as it once was, is still viewed as a
significant part of the traditional native Filipino games.
Card games are popular during festivities, with
some, including
pusoy and
tong-its, being used as
a form of
illegal gambling.
Mahjong is played in some Filipino
communities. The
yo-yo a popular toy with
roots in the Philippines was introduced internationally by
Pedro Flores with its name
from the
Ilokano language.
Arnis and
eskrima are
Filipino martial arts.
See also
References
External links
- Government
- General information
- Maps
- Other
- Wikimedia